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Snowshoeing the Appalachian Trail 10-30-11

Discussion of hiking from Maine to Florida
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Jon
Posts: 324
Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2011 9:43 pm
Location: Bangor, PA

Snowshoeing the Appalachian Trail 10-30-11

Unread post by Jon »

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Appalachian Trail


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AT


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Puddingstone boulder

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Taking break on a ridge of puddingstone


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View from Bearfort Summit

Links to more pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/stelling.j ... ighPoint03

So as many know this year we had a freak blizzard. Most elevations in the Catskills was past foliage peak, but NJ was full on fall colors, and everything was utterly destroyed by this classic Nor Easter. The appalachian trail itself was re-routed on a road-walk past my in-laws house since a bridge was out from Irene. The snow caused massive power outages because the foliage had not yet fallen, so the trees were weighted down with literally tons TONS of extra weight. It would snap boughs. Bend trees in 1/2. I felt bad for some of the trees, so I would go by, and tap a tree with my tripod that had it's top touching the ground. It would spring up and be perfectly righted. There would be a million other trees subject to this same fate and I just stopped caring about it after a while.

Anyways I started out the AT on Riverside Drive in West Milford NJ. I grew up here, and this trail I have been down many times before. Sometimes I hike to the viewpoint overlooking Greewoodlake from the Marina side. That is more of a strait up elevation gain, about 1000ft or so (about the most you'll get in NJ hiking) but it is a fairly short hike, only about 1.5 miles. I decided against that cause I'd be breaking trail in fairly wet deep fresh snow. I parked my car at the in-laws. This starts out more on top of the bearfort ridge and is more of a lateral 3 mile hike to get to the viewpoint. However never be fooled if attempting this section of the AT. Lateral over the Bearfort Ridge in West Milford always means you will encounter Multiple ridges (10+) that go up 25-50 feet than down 25-50 feet repeat...reapeat.... It is rocky and steep folds. The trail will sometimes follow these north/south ridges for several hundred yards at a time, and it is a nice pale purple puddingstone with quartz chunks sticking out all over. Hiking along them always makes me feel like I'm following ancient native american highways.

I guess I am the only maniac in NJ who broke out the snowshoes that day. I broke trail the whole way, and didn't see a soul(thankfully no bears). And because of the snow covering trail markers on the puddingstone ridges I missed my usual turnoff. I still got to a nice overlook on Greenwoodlake, and burned a few extra calories. Believe it or not, but this is one of the tallest mountains in NJ. It tops out at 1500 ft. The only things taller than Bearfort Mountain in NJ are the Kittatiny Ridgeline (western NJ by Delaware) and Hamburg Mountain. Still the forests are pretty, but the views are not much compared to the catskills. Anyways enjoy!
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mike
Posts: 1442
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2009 9:20 pm
Location: Ravena, NY

Re: Snowshoeing the Appalachian Trail 10-30-11

Unread post by mike »

Nice pictures Jon! Amazing amount of snow for October. Good day to get out. No one to bother you.
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